I have played this game before, so I will commentate on the differences.
The new art is a big improvement and the animations are very welcome.
After playing it again, I believe the game needs something during a run to give it more variety. For example I don't see how choosing paths makes a difference. The level hazards feel too minor or barely change how you fight strategy. The fights themselves could use something that leads you into different strategies. Enemies that change how you approach fights could be interesting, like the cactus that hurts on regular attacks.
At one point I tried to pause the game to find the help menu to learn the hotkeys, but didn't find how. "Esc" and "P" didn't seem to do anything.
I tried a bit changing the play style, but still put all my points into speed. I still believe this stat shouldn't be available to be increased. Maybe in the future I will put more into vitality. All the other stats feel like too minor when I look at the numbers.
This time I couldn't beat the game. The last fight felt much harder for some reason. Finn got perma targeted and despite trying to heal him (even with items), he bite the dust too quickly.
The game is shaping up nicely. Also very nice devlogs!
Thanks for playing the demo again. Variety is indeed a big concern of mine although I think I need to complete some sort of tutorial before unleashing the more sadistic handicaps I have come up with. More complicated enemies are also reserved for later on in the game, particularly after the end of the demo is where the difficulty really spikes and I feel more confident in deploying stuff like this.
The tutorial is only available at the main hub for now because it's unfinished anyways, most hotkeys are just the starting letter of what you want to do like A for attack, W for wait and S for skills. That's definitely an aspect I need to improve.
High AGI builds actually got a pretty severe readjustment this time around. It's just that an extra turn is always overpowered, imagine playing a game of chess where you get 2 turns for every 3 that your opponent gets. I find that mechanic rather complicated to balance.
Some time ago I reworked the AI and a major change that I implemented is that some characters will go for the throat if they see a kill, particularly boss characters have their own unique AI. A mechanic that's not disclosed anywhere because, again, bad tutorials, is that you gain some pity money every time you die so if you really want to see the ending you can go back into the rest area and buy a bunch of items like honey and mage leather.
I'll make sure to watch that playthrough later, that information is really useful and I'm thankful for it. Have a fruitful demo days.
A tutorial would be useful, having the option to check the hotkeys at any point could be useful also.
AGI will always be a problem I feel. The other stats feel like they don't add much or are situational, while you will always need speed no matter the playstyle. Thats why I suggest to try the game without having it as an upgradeable stat. Maybe have it increase as a unlockable perk for the dino and other fast classes.
From the two battles I got, I feel that once a character is being focused, there is no way to save it. For example, I felt that healing was not worth it. You would spend one wait and one cast to heal one hit worth of damage which might not be enough to save wounded from getting ganged.
I hope the playthrough was useful. It is always fun to try this game.
Status effects don't have an explanation or I missed it. I see an icon but I have no idea what it does unless it has a very obvious effect. Like the desert status effect deals damage when you do an action, but what does the water drop status effect do? I have no idea despite seeing it many times.
Bug: I was fighting in a hill area where you have random chance to get mana. My character reached the middle and so I clicked on skill button, but I didn't have enough mana to use a skill so it was marked red. But then I got the random mana bonus, and even when I closed and opened skill menu again, the skill was still marked as red even though I had enough mana to use it. It was usable it was only a visual error.
Bug: When at home, having "Auto" turned ON opens dialogue on it's own automatically again even after closing the dialogue.
First stage goon enemies look pretty boring, but later enemies from Ruins and Desert look pretty interesting and unique, like the dog with golden face, goat centaur or desert soldier. Player characters have a memorable design and are very likeable. Their portraits look cool - this is one of the main reasons I remembered to play this game when I saw them some time ago.
Good story/gameplay balance. Currently I'm right after defeating Finegann's look alike boss, and so far I never felt a need to fast-forward any of the dialogues. Every conversation felt the right length and told me something new about the world or the characters. Characters felt connected to the world and to each other. Makes me want to play this later to see what's next.
I'm not sure what to think about the gameplay yet. Initially it's pretty hard. Especially the first boss, but later on with upgrades I have found a tactic that seems to work every time no matter if it's a boss battle or ordinary enemy team. I fear this might become repetitive.
Often I'm confused about what enemies do. some of their actions are obvious like, this guy deals a lot of damage, this guy can protect their allies and this guy has life steal and so on. But some actions I have no idea what they do. For example goon enemy uses an ability with a circle/square effect (don't remember which) and I have no idea what happened.
The music is very good. Especially in combat. The piano during rest is a feels heavy but in a fitting way, since characters and stuck in purgatory even peace time is part of being imprisoned.
Thanks for trying the game. I guess I should draw more portraits then.
I've made like 3 different tutorials by now I think, it's definitely one of my weak points. Most of the information you are looking for can be found at the encyclopedia (the red book in the main hall). It contains individual entries for every enemy you have defeated so far including stats, skills and a little bit of lore, but even this information is a little outdated.
Goons are a bit problematic since most of them are weak on purpose to serve as early game enemies. Ironically, it's easier to design more interesting units.
Thanks for the bug reports too, I always overlook stuff like that. Also, the damage you were taking in the desert wasn't from the terrain but because you were fighting a walking cactus and touching them hurts.
General fixes thanks to last DD's feedback and commitment to 1 hour demo. Mainly now the rest area can be revisited and speed controls are visible in the combat journal.
This time around the demo is about 1 hour long or about the same as the first time I submitted this game. I figured I shouldn't make people play for 6 hours every time.
In this occasion most of the changes are graphical as I'm trying to implement the final assets for the game, but there's a couple of new mechanics too as I'm trying to improve the beginning of the game a little bit also.
If you are a returning player I leave it up to you to decide if it's worth it to play the first hour again just to see the slightly different assets.
Comments
Hey Bakar, I recorded your game again
here's a link to all videos I recorded this Demo Day:
https://mega.nz/folder/PYMBCI6A#kb__dlWiUsmt-zPha-iBtA
They are going to be up until DD52. Keep up the good work.
Thanks man, you always go above and beyond.
aw I wanted to pick up from where I left off dd49 :(
Sorry about that, the changes this time were too large to properly test. I'll try to have an option for that next time.
Player a run to the end
I have played this game before, so I will commentate on the differences.The new art is a big improvement and the animations are very welcome.
After playing it again, I believe the game needs something during a run to give it more variety. For example I don't see how choosing paths makes a difference. The level hazards feel too minor or barely change how you fight strategy. The fights themselves could use something that leads you into different strategies. Enemies that change how you approach fights could be interesting, like the cactus that hurts on regular attacks.
At one point I tried to pause the game to find the help menu to learn the hotkeys, but didn't find how. "Esc" and "P" didn't seem to do anything.
I tried a bit changing the play style, but still put all my points into speed. I still believe this stat shouldn't be available to be increased. Maybe in the future I will put more into vitality. All the other stats feel like too minor when I look at the numbers.
This time I couldn't beat the game. The last fight felt much harder for some reason. Finn got perma targeted and despite trying to heal him (even with items), he bite the dust too quickly.
The game is shaping up nicely. Also very nice devlogs!
Thanks for playing the demo again. Variety is indeed a big concern of mine although I think I need to complete some sort of tutorial before unleashing the more sadistic handicaps I have come up with. More complicated enemies are also reserved for later on in the game, particularly after the end of the demo is where the difficulty really spikes and I feel more confident in deploying stuff like this.
The tutorial is only available at the main hub for now because it's unfinished anyways, most hotkeys are just the starting letter of what you want to do like A for attack, W for wait and S for skills. That's definitely an aspect I need to improve.
High AGI builds actually got a pretty severe readjustment this time around. It's just that an extra turn is always overpowered, imagine playing a game of chess where you get 2 turns for every 3 that your opponent gets. I find that mechanic rather complicated to balance.
Some time ago I reworked the AI and a major change that I implemented is that some characters will go for the throat if they see a kill, particularly boss characters have their own unique AI. A mechanic that's not disclosed anywhere because, again, bad tutorials, is that you gain some pity money every time you die so if you really want to see the ending you can go back into the rest area and buy a bunch of items like honey and mage leather.
I'll make sure to watch that playthrough later, that information is really useful and I'm thankful for it. Have a fruitful demo days.
Sorry for the late response.
A tutorial would be useful, having the option to check the hotkeys at any point could be useful also.
AGI will always be a problem I feel. The other stats feel like they don't add much or are situational, while you will always need speed no matter the playstyle. Thats why I suggest to try the game without having it as an upgradeable stat. Maybe have it increase as a unlockable perk for the dino and other fast classes.
From the two battles I got, I feel that once a character is being focused, there is no way to save it. For example, I felt that healing was not worth it. You would spend one wait and one cast to heal one hit worth of damage which might not be enough to save wounded from getting ganged.
I hope the playthrough was useful. It is always fun to try this game.
Game is awesome
-i was a bit confused at first with the combat system but once i understood how its great.
-music is nice
-enemies are complex and can wreck you if you aren't careful
-i think character design is weird but i like it.
-story is interersting enough for me to not skip the dialog.
Thanks for trying out the game. I always try to keep in mind that people don't have any reason to care about my made up story to begin with.
The UI changes are excellent. Happy demo day!
UI design is a soul crushing task, thank you.
Intro is kino.
Status effects don't have an explanation or I missed it. I see an icon but I have no idea what it does unless it has a very obvious effect. Like the desert status effect deals damage when you do an action, but what does the water drop status effect do? I have no idea despite seeing it many times.
Bug: I was fighting in a hill area where you have random chance to get mana. My character reached the middle and so I clicked on skill button, but I didn't have enough mana to use a skill so it was marked red. But then I got the random mana bonus, and even when I closed and opened skill menu again, the skill was still marked as red even though I had enough mana to use it. It was usable it was only a visual error.
Bug: When at home, having "Auto" turned ON opens dialogue on it's own automatically again even after closing the dialogue.
First stage goon enemies look pretty boring, but later enemies from Ruins and Desert look pretty interesting and unique, like the dog with golden face, goat centaur or desert soldier. Player characters have a memorable design and are very likeable. Their portraits look cool - this is one of the main reasons I remembered to play this game when I saw them some time ago.
Good story/gameplay balance. Currently I'm right after defeating Finegann's look alike boss, and so far I never felt a need to fast-forward any of the dialogues. Every conversation felt the right length and told me something new about the world or the characters. Characters felt connected to the world and to each other. Makes me want to play this later to see what's next.
I'm not sure what to think about the gameplay yet. Initially it's pretty hard. Especially the first boss, but later on with upgrades I have found a tactic that seems to work every time no matter if it's a boss battle or ordinary enemy team. I fear this might become repetitive.
Often I'm confused about what enemies do. some of their actions are obvious like, this guy deals a lot of damage, this guy can protect their allies and this guy has life steal and so on. But some actions I have no idea what they do. For example goon enemy uses an ability with a circle/square effect (don't remember which) and I have no idea what happened.
The music is very good. Especially in combat. The piano during rest is a feels heavy but in a fitting way, since characters and stuck in purgatory even peace time is part of being imprisoned.
Thanks for trying the game. I guess I should draw more portraits then.
I've made like 3 different tutorials by now I think, it's definitely one of my weak points. Most of the information you are looking for can be found at the encyclopedia (the red book in the main hall). It contains individual entries for every enemy you have defeated so far including stats, skills and a little bit of lore, but even this information is a little outdated.
Goons are a bit problematic since most of them are weak on purpose to serve as early game enemies. Ironically, it's easier to design more interesting units.
Thanks for the bug reports too, I always overlook stuff like that. Also, the damage you were taking in the desert wasn't from the terrain but because you were fighting a walking cactus and touching them hurts.
Brutal cliffhanger with Peter. Now I'm hooked.
What's new this DD:
General fixes thanks to last DD's feedback and commitment to 1 hour demo. Mainly now the rest area can be revisited and speed controls are visible in the combat journal.
https://bakar.itch.io/afterlife-gladiator/devlog/535630/an-update-so-tiny-you-co...
New assets, perk system, settings menu, and quality of life improvements for dialogue system.
https://bakar.itch.io/afterlife-gladiator/devlog/542679/still-working-on-assets-...
Even more assets, more visual indicators for readability and a sprinkle of luck based mechanics.
https://bakar.itch.io/afterlife-gladiator/devlog/542679/still-working-on-assets-...
This time around the demo is about 1 hour long or about the same as the first time I submitted this game. I figured I shouldn't make people play for 6 hours every time.
In this occasion most of the changes are graphical as I'm trying to implement the final assets for the game, but there's a couple of new mechanics too as I'm trying to improve the beginning of the game a little bit also.
If you are a returning player I leave it up to you to decide if it's worth it to play the first hour again just to see the slightly different assets.